


Stars in his Eyes

by jimnaysium



Category: The Get Down (TV)
Genre: Aspergers, Brief mentions of other characters - Freeform, Brotherly Love, Comfort, Fluff, Gen, based off my brother's aspergers, bc there's not enough fic about him, i wrote this based off a popular headcanon i saw, ra-ra centric, so much brotherly love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-21
Updated: 2017-04-21
Packaged: 2018-10-22 04:07:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,715
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10689438
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jimnaysium/pseuds/jimnaysium
Summary: Boo wants to know what makes Ra so different.Luckily for him, Dizzee knows everything.





	Stars in his Eyes

Ra-Ra was diagnosed when Boo-Boo was little.

He didn’t remember much of his brother before the diagnosis. He was the same Ra, the same dorky control freak that he was in Boo’s teenage years.

Ra was just different, but then so was Dizzee. Not in the same way, not in a way that could be diagnosed, but he understood that Ra saw the world through a different lens to most. That was why he had been the one to explain it to Boo. 

It’d been Summer and the Bronx had felt the heat like a roast pork. Days spent doing chores for their Dad or prowling the streets for trouble with Zeke had left the Kipling boys sick of sweating. 

The attic was the coolest room in the house and so one night, when Boo was 6 to Ra’s 9, the boys had convinced their parents to let them sleep in the attic. They had painstakingly set a tent up in the dusty, hardwood room, a feat easier said than done when you couldn’t hammer pegs into the ground. Somehow though, they had managed. 

It was all thanks to Ra, really. The older boy had been dashing around like a headless chook, chattering about how to engineer the pegs just right and how they could fit seven people in a five person tent (Mylene, Regina, and Zeke had been allowed to sleep over). 

Yolanda and Regina were throwing Cheetos at the boys and waiting for Mylene to come. They had taken to holding hands when Boo’s parents weren’t around (something he had never thought to question) and they were doing it now. They still had Cheeto dust on their fingers and Boo remembered thinking that was gross.

Dizzee was drawing a crocodile on the back of Zeke’s hand. It had glasses and a stripy cap and it was awesome. At that age, Boo just thought Dizzee was the coolest. He drew on his jeans and grafittied the abandoned building two blocks away and was always too cool for girls. He was Boo’s authority on most things.

That night, the gang didn’t fall asleep until 3am. It was the latest Boo’s parents had ever let them stay up and when he finally fell asleep, it was in a state of elated exhaustion. His friends were the best.

He didn’t sleep for long, being startled awake with a foot to the head two hours later.

“Oh shit, sorry Boo.”

It was Dizzee, trying to leave the tent.

“Hmmghgf?” Why was Dizzee up so early? Boo’s eyes shuttered open and he watched the blurry outline of Dizzee and Ra-Ra leaving the room in the early morning’s watercolour light. They were all soft and quiet affection in the early hours, Ra’s hand latched onto the bottom of his older brother’s green bed shirt and Dizzee glancing down to watch Ra’s tired steps on the ladder.

Like any little brother with half a brain, Boo got up and followed them.

He found them in the kitchen, rummaging a box in the pantry.

“See? They aren’t here!”

“Shh, Ra, breathe.”

“Dizz, I need them. We gotta get Mum so she can go buy more! Dizz, I-“

“Ra, sit down. I’m pulling the trump card, sit and breathe. You’ll wake everyone up.”

“…”

“Sorry, Dizz.”

“None of that, okay? So you won’t have them today, so what? You can do it, you can breathe through it, okay? I know you can.”

“I just- I need them. Can we at least ask Mum?”

“When she wakes up. What do you want for breakfast, jam toast or oatmeal?”

“I had oatmeal the last two days.”

“Okay so jam toast.”

Boo was so confused. What did Ra need that they had run out of? Why did he need it so bad? Why did Dizzee know about it and Boo didn’t? Ra’s voice sounded like it did when he had scraped his knee the day before and an instinctive thing in Boo’s chest hurt.

He heard footsteps and scampered back up the ladder to the attic. As carefully as a sleep deprived 6 year old could manage, he stepped over Zeke’s arm and Regina’s head and Mylene’s ponytail before slipping back into his sleeping bag. Over his pumping heart, he heard Ra and Dizzee’s voices drifting up the ladder.

He didn’t sleep after that.

That night, Boo knocked on Dizzee’s door. It was a deep, plum purple because Dizzee was rad and he had painted it that colour. Doodles littered the door, especially of space and aliens in fancy clothes. Boo liked to trace the new ones with his little fingers every time he walked past. He liked to think he could draw like Dizzee if he tried.

“Come in,” Dizzee called in his mellow voice.

Boo pushed the door open. The action was slowly unsure and Dizzee had Boo pinned in a second.

“Sit on the bed,” he said. His voice was still soft and thoughtful, despite it’s 7 and a half year old youth, and his pencil sat hovered over his sketchpad.

Boo sat on the blue tartan quilt, curling his feet in the soft below him like a cat and resting his chin on his hands.

“I gotta ask a question but you ain’t allowed to be mad, okay?” Dizzee looked up, curiosity piqued delicately in his dark eyebrows.

“Okay, Boo. Proceed.”

Boo had to ask, his 6 year old curiosity was killing him. He was still scared though, still worried Dizzee would hate him for following him to the kitchen. He squeezed his eyes shut and took a deep breath.

“I heard you and Ra in the kitchen this morning,” Boo confessed in one breath. A moon rose on Dizzee’s face before Boo had even continued. “He was talking about needing something, and you was telling him it was okay. What did he need? Is Ra okay? He sounded real troubled, Dizz – what’s wrong with ‘im?”

Dizzee sighed carefully, his plum lips pursed thoughtfully. His pencil must have found its own way back to its spot, because Dizzee’s eyes never left Boo’s face.

“Nothing is wrong with Ra-Ra, Boo. Understand that?”

Boo started to nod, keen to appease Dizzee, but then gave up and shook his head. He was still hopelessly lost. Dizzee chuckled, ever mature beyond his years. He wasn’t the responsible big brother, that was Ra, but he did teach Boo things. He helped the youngest understand confusing concepts, taught him about possibility and space. Boo didn’t know where he’d be without him.

Dizzee rolled his desk chair closer so he was right in front of Boo. “Ra saw a doctor with Mum the other day, remember that?”

Boo nodded confidently this time.

“Well, he wasn’t sick like his body. It was his head they were getting checked.”

Boo frowned, a face that was all puckered lips and furrowed brows.

“Like his brain?”

Dizzee was all patience and fondness where his baby brother was concerned. He nodded, pleased, and picked a few pieces of lint from Boo’s stripy orange shirt. 

“Exactly, Boo, something is different about Ra’s brain. He has what the doctor called Asperger’s disorder.”

Ra had a disease? Boo felt anger drip into his chest. He knew he was only small, but he still loved his brothers (and sister) with everything he had. Why would they exclude him? Something ugly was twisting in Boo’s chest, something hurt and sad, and he looked down at his feet. 

“Why are you crying, Boo?”

Boo hadn’t even realised tears were filling his eyes. He swiped angrily at them, but the drops slipped down his cheeks anyway. He swallowed a hiccup and huffed, crossing his arms. 

“Ra is sick and no-one told me. No-one told me because I’m little, but I wanna help Ra-Ra too, Dizz!”

Before Boo knew it, his older brother had an armful of six year old. Dizzee was wearing a soft, mint green long sleeved shirt. It smelt like paint and, by extension, Dizzee. Even when Boo was angry, he found himself drawing comfort from that smell and that warmth. Dizzee was real skinny, but his chest still moved when he spoke and Boo buried closer as Dizzee explained.

“He isn’t sick, Boo. I promise. Some people will think he’s sick or he’s broken, but he’s not.”

Boo’s voice came out muffled and wet and thick. “Then why does he gotta see a doctor?”

Dizzee pulled back to answer. He wiped the tears from Boo’s eyes with blue stained fingers and gave him a gentle smile. 

“Because he’s different, little brother. He sees the world different to everyone else, there’s stuff that we don’t understand that only he understands, and there’s stuff we can deal with that he isn’t real good at dealing with, that’s all. He’s just different and that makes living hard for him, so he has to see a doctor to make living and fitting in easier for him.”

Boo sniffed. That made sense. Ra was just different, like the alien in the top hat that Dizzee loved to draw. 

Besides, Boo had already known that. Ra had always been quick to panic, introspective and diligent in a way others weren’t. He got tired quick and obsessed with things more than other people. That was probably what his Different was.

“Does he take medicine for his Asparagus? Is that what he was looking for in the cupboard?”

Dizzee cracked a grin, his perfect teeth as shy about their perfection as ever. “It’s Asperger’s, Boo. And yes, he was looking for medicine. The medicine helps him be calm and not panic like he sometimes does, that’s all.”

“What makes his brain different though?” Boo was still lost. “Why is Ra so different?”

Dizzee cupped Boo’s chin and smiled like he knew something his youngest brother didn’t. Then he chose to divulge the secret to Boo and the 6 year old’s heart soared with pride.

“Ra has all of the galaxies inside of him, little brother. The stars are in his eyes, his veins are the milky way and his brain? His brain is the entire sun.”

Boo liked to hug his brothers and he wasn’t embarrassed by that yet, so he burrowed ferociously into Dizzee’s jacket.

“Our brother is like a hero, Dizz.”

“He’s my hero, Boo.”

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, so I saw a headcanon that had Ra-Ra as autistic and it got me to thinking.
> 
> I have a younger brother with Aspergers and a younger step-brother with Autism. As well, my Mum is a psychologist and has taught us all extensively about the autism spectrum bc that's truly the only way to describe the disorder* - every case is so different. 
> 
> Having said that, I saw Ra-Ra more as having Aspergers which is basically a higher functioning level* of Autism, as he understands social cues to some extent, is eager to please others, and has a level of empathy (all things that align with my brother's specific Aspergers).
> 
> Basically though, I was inspired by that and this was born! Everything about Ra's condition in this fic is based purely on how we've handled my brothers, so if something I've written doesn't align with your experiences, feel free to message me and discuss x
> 
> Hope you enjoy even tho it doesn't have Shao/Zeke or Thor/Dizzee which we can all agree are life lol
> 
> Lemme know if this interests you bc I have a few other Aspergers!Ra ideas that I'd like to explore if people are keen :))
> 
>  
> 
> * I just want to point out as well that, as I touched on in the fic, I don't think Aspergers or Autism are truly disorders. They're just a different way of perceiving the world, something we can't understand and so label x


End file.
